Activision Blizzard Spend $100 Million Developing Starcraft 2

According to an article on the Wall Street Journal (registration required), Activision Blizzard has spent a whopping $100 million developing their RTS sequel Starcraft 2.

The $100 million has so far been sunk into the development of the game and does not include any marketing activities. Blizzard is banking on the success of Starcraft 2 and the development resource that has been pumped into the new Battle.Net system. Blizzard are hoping that by offering an integrated Battle.Net across all their titles, gamers playing World of Warcraft will pick up a copy of Starcraft 2 which will help drive sales. Speaking to the paper, Blizzard’s Mike Morhaime added:

“We’ve brought in a lot of new players in the beta testing who’ve been playing World of Warcraft but have never tried Starcraft,”

With Starcraft 2 coming out in three parts, Wings of Liberty being the first on 27 July, they are likely to easily recoup their costs. With StarCraft being such a massive franchise in South Korea, Blizzard will be well on their way to making a success of the sequel and the sales will come flooding in.

Update: The article can be read by clicking to it via Google. Search this, and it’s the top result.

Fact is it is the other way around .. my suspension of disbelief will be cut deeply if i see a Witchdoctor wearing full-plate armor or anything of its equivalent .. it just doesn’t make any sense theme wise nor do any tribal warriors “going to war” in real life wear anything more than leather, bones, feathers and large wood masks/armor and carry large wooden shields for protection .. that’s what a Witchdoctor is “expected” to be like .. and i think Blizz devs are sticking to the theme just fine.

The Necro armor in D2 was mainly consisting of bones and nobody complained when the Paladin was wearing a “tank” for protection .. because that’s what fits with each respective class and its theme .. diversity people … otherwise let’s just slap full plate armor on all characters and be done with it .. no need for headaches XD